


Long

by Vashti (tvashti)



Series: Thirst [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 2017 TwistedShorts Ficathon, Community: twistedshorts, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Episode Related, Episode: s02e09-10 What's My Line, Gen, Oz being Oz, Real Family, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, career fair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-17 01:46:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13648872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvashti/pseuds/Vashti
Summary: "That was Tony Stark.""From Stark Industries?""Yes!""Huh."Or: Stark Industries only taps the best and the brightest for their internships/early-recruitment.





	Long

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the August 2017 TwistedShorts ficathon, and apparently utterly forgotten by me. Oops, sorry!

Oz looked around the room with its fancy food and fancy -- he sniffed at a couple of the unmarked, open bottles -- non-alcoholic drinks. He hadn't known that Sunnydale High was hiding such nice digs. 

He twisted around to look at one of his escorts. Oz felt like he recognized him from somewhere, but couldn’t place the large man. "This was always here?"

"Not so nice, but yeah. It's one of your teachers' lounges."

Oz's eyebrows rose. "One… Hmm." Well. Now he was obligated to stay and explore as a service to the larger student population.

* * *

Tony watched the video feed from his car. "That's him? You're sure."

"Yes, sir," JARVIS answered from the car's speaker system. "His records match the timeline."

"Yeah, yeah. I know that already." He slid a hand down his face. "The dates all match." He laughed. "The IQ matches."

Happy, his driver and bodyguard, came across the car’s speaker system. "You alright back there, sir?" He was inside with the perspective early SI recruits. Not much need for an arms dealer to have his muscle in a podunk little town like SunnyNoWhere, CA. If there was something in this town he couldn’t handle, he didn’t deserve his weapons contracts and Tony deserved every single contract he had.

"Yeah. Sure. I'm fine. Just fine." Leaning forward, he snagged the bottle of fine scotch sitting on a drop-down tray just beyond his reach. He topped off the glass sitting by his left hand.

* * *

Movement caught Oz's eye so he turned from the buffet large enough to feed half the football team towards the door. A dark-haired man strolled into the room with a distinctly alcoholic looking drink in his hand.

"So this is all the talent this school has to offer?" he said to no one in particular. "I think I'm actually surprised."

Oz nodded -- sort of nodded -- and turned back to the food. The ‘dale was always in need of new teachers, and the new teachers were always…interesting. Except for the nice suit and over-attention to his facial hair, this new guy wasn't anything Oz hadn't encountered before.

He felt the teacher slip in next to him, as if there was a line instead of only the two of them. "Hey," Oz said.

"Not much of a talker, huh?"

Oz shook his head, already enjoying the game. "Nah." He really wasn't much of a talker, but he could hold up a conversation when he needed. It was more interesting not to.

"But apparently you are a genius."

"I guess?"

The teacher frowned. "Don't you know why you're here?"

Oz shrugged, adding a shrimpy thing to his plate. "Nope."

"Aaand you don't care."

Oz shrugged again. "Food's good."

The teacher chuckled and rolled his eyes. "If I could remember my teen years, I'd probably remember being a walking stomach, too."

"...Huh?"

Oz hadn't gotten more than two canapes on his plate when the teacher said, "So. SI. You gonna join their internship program?"

"Dunno."

"You don't know."

Oz shrugged. 

"It's SI. Stark Industries--"

"Oh."

"Oh?!" The teacher was clearly indignant. He'd been swirling his glass while talking to Oz, but now it was down on the table as he fiddled with his cufflinks. Surprisingly fancy cufflinks. "What does 'Oh' mean?"

"Didn't know what SI was." Oz glanced at the teacher. "Thanks. Now I know."

It was hard to tell in the dim room, but Oz was pretty sure the teacher was flushed. With anger? That seemed like a bit much.

"You didn't know why you were here. You didn't know what SI stood for. Why are you here, kid?"

Oz shrugged again. "Free lunch for a walking stomach?"

The teacher laughed and took a healthy drink from his glass. "So you gonna do it?" he asked when he brought the glass down. "Now that you know, are you gonna join Stark Industries internship program?"

Popping a canape in his mouth, Oz shrugged but said, "Probably not."

"Why?"

"Got things to do."

"What things?" the teacher pressed, clearly becoming agitated.

"Music things. School things. Hot Eskimo things."

"I'm sorry, did I hear you say 'hot Eskimo things'?"

Oz popped the second canape in his mouth and nodded.

"So you're just gonna eat their food, listen to their spiel and chase after hot Eskimos."

"Mmm, more or less."

The teacher's chin dropped to his chest as he laughed. "All of this and you don't even care." He lifted his glass towards Oz and toasted him before taking a drink. "Just like your old man." He turned on his heel and sauntered out the room.

Seconds later, the Eskimo girl wandered in nearly quivering with excitement. "Did you see who that was?!"

"The newest new teacher?"

"No! Although, omigod, can you imagine if he did? Buffy might actually stay awake in class." She bounced on her toes and Oz felt his face soften. 

"Who was it?" he asked.

"That was Tony Stark. The Tony Stark!"

"From Stark Industries?"

"Yes!"

"Huh."

Fin[ite]

**Author's Note:**

> There is a [sequel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13718892). ~~It's all written and edited. I'll either post it later this week or next. Someone poke me if I don't.~~


End file.
